join the Church of MissRaven and become a Sequence 9: Reader p atreon.com/KeyofStars for more chapters
[Thanks to omar amurrio for becoming a free member]
Archbishop Randall Valentinus of Holy Wind Cathedral was the first to arrive at the scene.
At this time, the black, viscous liquid-like substance in the shadows had not completely dissipated, and on the ground, there were still traces of what looked like wriggling blood, like caterpillars.
Especially at the end of the alley, it had almost blasted through this dead end and connected it to the street in front.
This burly archbishop, with thick, deep blue hair, surveyed the scene.
Soon, an old man wearing a black cleric's robe with five Night Saint emblems on his chest seemed to emerge from the void.
This was Archbishop Anthony Stevenson of Saint Samuel Cathedral. He nodded slightly to Redale, as a greeting.
Anthony also looked at the scene: "The Aurora Order's 'Black Knight'?"
Both archbishops saw the few drops of blood that were still wriggling just now but were now almost lifeless. Redale said, "I think so."
He paused and then said, "Who killed this 'Black Knight'?"
Both of them knew that there were many demigods in Backlund, but battles between demigods were rare because their actions would quickly attract the attention of the churches' demigods.
Even in some situations where they had to fight, it was difficult to determine a winner in an hour or two.
The usual situation was that the two would fight fiercely, but seeing that they could not quickly determine a winner, the official Beyonder's demigods would be about to arrive, so they would tacitly end the battle.
However, the battle that had just taken place in this dark alley had clearly resulted in a victory.
Whether it was from the black shadows on the ground that were lifeless but had not completely dissipated, or from the spiritual perception of the two saints, it proved that the "Black Knight" was dead.
At this moment, an old man wearing a white priest's robe and a soft hat quickly flew in from the sky and landed steadily.
Behind him were a pair of mechanical-looking but thin and light silver wings.
When the old man landed, the wings automatically folded and disappeared under the white priest's robe.
He was Archbishop Horamick Hayden of the Steam Church. When his feet landed, the pupils of his eyes suddenly became illusory, and streams of information flashed through his eyes.
A second or two later, his pupils returned to normal: "The one who fought the 'Black Knight' also seems to be a Sequence 4, but he has good anti-divination abilities. I can't see any information about him."
The three saints looked at the blood that had completely lost its vitality and saw the shadow that had completely disappeared.
Although the other party had killed a demigod of the Aurora Order, the expressions of the three gradually became serious.
A demigod who could kill a "Black Knight" in about 1 minute had come to Backlund, and they knew nothing about it.
...
Hobert arrived in the western wilderness of Backlund, belonging to the Balk family, and dumped the corpses from his leather bag.
The battle with the "Black Knight" had only lasted about a minute, so the Beyonder characteristics of these corpses had just begun to be extracted.
Hobert took off the Mr. X mask, revealing a face with thin cheeks and a gloomy look between his eyebrows, like a drug addict.
It was indeed Lewis Wien!
Hobert injected his spirituality into "1-109" and once again activated the sealing item's "Shepherd" ability.
Lewis's soul was sucked out of the corpse by "1-109" and entered the leather bracelet that Hobert wore on his wrist with a painful expression, adding another dazzling blue gem to the bracelet.
Hobert's spirituality immediately had three options again: "Travel", "Blink", and "Divination".
This way, Hobert could give the "Traveler's Blade" to Fors, so that she would have the ability to escape immediately when she encountered danger.
Using the rapier, he cut off Lewis's head. Hobert accelerated the extraction speed of the Beyonder characteristics of the other corpses, and recovered one "Black Knight" and three "Rose Bishop" Beyonder characteristics.
At the same time, several other pathway's Beyonder characteristics were extracted from the "Black Knight's" corpse.
Finally, Hobert used "Fire Crows" to burn all the corpses and bury them in the soil.
He used "Travel" again and returned to the study of the Earl's mansion.
Fors was indeed still waiting here, and she immediately stood up: "How is it?"
Hobert handed the head in the cloth bag to Fors: "I didn't expect there to be unexpected gains."
Fors glanced at the head in the cloth bag. It was indeed Lewis: "What gains?"
"I also hunted down an important member of the Aurora Order by the way," Hobert said with a smile.
He did not say that it was a "Black Knight", so as not to worry or blame Fors.
Fors smiled: "Thank you, Hobert."
Hobert pinched her face: "This is what I should do."
Fors had to deal with the head, and Hobert had to recover his condition, so the two left the room and went about their business. There was no time to "dance" tonight.
Hobert came to the study, took off his shirt, and the wound on his chest had begun to rot and was bleeding some black blood.
It was the wound that Hobert inflicted on himself with his sword in order to prevent the "Puppet" from possessing him.
This sword caused great damage to the "Puppet", but Hobert was also injured as a result, and he could only "bestow" most of the injury away.
Hobert drew his rapier again and cut out a "Underworld Gate", using the power of the Underworld to restore the injured spiritual body.
After sealing the "Underworld Gate", Hobert found a small knife, dug out the rotten flesh, and then used the "Healing Fork" to heal the wound quickly.
After doing all this, Hobert sacrificed the Beyonder characteristics he had gained today to the "Nation of Disorder".
Sitting on the "Iron Throne", Hobert crushed these three demigod-level Beyonder characteristics while pondering how to deal with them.
The "Mysticologist" Beyonder characteristic could be sold to Bernadette, and the "Puppet" Beyonder characteristic would be kept to see if Miss Sharron would need it in the future.
But how to deal with this "Black Knight" Beyonder characteristic? This time, Hobert acted cleanly and did not give the other party a chance to become a Sealed Artifact.
The problem was that Hobert did not need the Beyonder characteristics of this pathway. It would be a pity to sell it to the orthodox churches at a low price.
After thinking for a while, Hobert thought of Old Man Winston, whom he had kept. He would see if he could make it into a mystical item.
It didn't matter if the negative effects were a little stronger, it was better than directly using Beyonder characteristics.
As for the "Rose Bishop" Beyonder characteristics, they could be crushed and sold to the orthodox churches in the future.
There was also 1 "Desire Apostle" and 1 "Scarlet Scholar" Beyonder characteristics.
The former would also be dealt with by the orthodox churches, and the latter would be sold to the Sanguine when he found a chance.
...
Saturday morning, Pritz Harbor.
Dorian walked out of the Fishermen's Connection, seemingly unhurried, but his heart was filled with doubts and worries, because he had just received a letter from his student Fors through someone.
It said that she had something important to meet him about, and she was now staying at the Sea Breeze Street Hotel at number 55.
What Dorian wondered was, how could his student, who was always lazy, suddenly run to Pritz Harbor to meet him?
He was worried about whether Fors had encountered some difficult problems?
Dorian wasn't worried that this would be a trap, because at the end of the letter, there was a code that they had already determined. At least in Fors's view, this meeting was safe.
After a simple observation of the Sea Breeze Street Hotel, Dorian finally walked in. After confirming that there was no danger, he came to the outside of the room Fors mentioned in the letter and knocked on the door according to the agreed code.
The door was opened, and Fors made a "everything is safe" gesture to Dorian before Dorian felt relieved and entered the door.
"Teacher, I know this visit is a bit rushed," Fors smiled after closing the door: "But I have something very important to ask you about."
Dorian was slightly relieved. At least it seemed that Fors's matter was not too dangerous or urgent: "Tell me slowly."
The two sat down on the two chairs in the hotel. Fors picked up a small leather bag and said: "I know that Lewis Wien once betrayed the organization and caused you a lot of harm. I have always wanted to find him and avenge you."
"Give up this idea!" Dorian sat up straight: "Even if you have 'Leymano's Travels', you are definitely not his opponent.
"Even if Hobert is also a Sequence 5, even if he is stronger than Lewis, he may not be able to kill him.
"But as long as he is not killed, his organization will definitely launch a revenge! They are all a bunch of lunatics, even if Hobert is an Earl, he can still become their target!"
He took a deep breath: "You have such a heart, which makes me very pleased, but you don't need to take risks."
If Hobert was still Sequence 5, it would definitely not work, Fors muttered silently: "Hobert has succeeded!"
Cough cough cough! Dorian choked on his saliva, coughed, and took a few sips of tea before he was relieved.
Then he seemed to realize something: "Hobert has advanced to Sequence 4?"
Fors nodded slightly, this could not be concealed, otherwise it would not make sense.
Dorian asked with some worry: "Have you encountered any trouble? Have you accidentally left any clues?"
"Shouldn't have," Fors said: "Hobert changed his appearance, and he has a mystical item that resists divination.
"According to his description, he seized the opportunity and succeeded quickly, and the other party didn't even have time to enter the spirit world."
Dorian sighed: "That's good, that's good."
Fors opened the exquisite small leather case on the ground, which contained a head wrapped in newspaper.
Dorian saw the face he would never forget. His smug smile was gone, and his face was filled with disturbing fear.
As an "Astrologer", Dorian's spirituality could confirm that this was Lewis Wien's head.
"Good, very good..." Dorian whispered a few words slightly excitedly, took out a fist-sized pure crystal ball from his pocket: "It is made of star crystal and can effectively improve your astrology."
Before Fors could refuse, Dorian laughed and said: "Lewis is my enemy. You helped me get rid of him, so I have to pay you some reward."
Fors immediately refused: "No, no need. Hobert has already kept his Beyonder characteristics for me to advance to 'Traveler' in the future."
Dorian said with a serious expression: "Do you want to make me feel guilty and uneasy?"
Then he smiled: "Don't worry, your teacher still has some wealth."
Fors didn't say anything else. If she didn't want anything, it might really make Teacher Dorian uneasy.
Dorian thought for a while and then said: "Wait here for a while, I'll be right back."
Ignoring Fors's retention, he insisted on leaving and returned about an hour later. First, he handed Fors a box: "There is still a crystal ball inside, but this is a mystical item.
"It allows people who don't know 'Divination' to use 'Divination', but it can only have the level of Sequence 7 at most.
"If it is someone who knows 'Divination', it can bypass some anti-divination abilities and improve the accuracy of 'Divination'; it can also be used as a medium for dream divination, roulette divination, and other forms of divination.
"The negative effect is: do not use it under the cosmos, otherwise it will attract malicious gazes."
After Dorian finished introducing it, he said again: "This mystical item does not conflict with your 'Divination' ability, it is equivalent to giving you a higher sequence of 'Divination'."
Then he took out two documents: "These are two properties in Backlund, one in Hillston District and one in Cherwood District, both in good locations."
Fors was slightly stunned: "Teacher, this is too much! How about this, I only want that crystal ball."
She roughly calculated that these two properties were worth at least 6,500 pounds, and that crystal ball was also worth about 4,500 pounds, so Dorian gave her 11,000 pounds at once! This is the foundation of the former angel family!
They are indeed unknown now, but there are still many properties such as land, forest farms, real estate, manors, and mines.
"No," Dorian said seriously: "Normally, the reward for assassinating Lewis Wien, who is supported by the Aurora Order, would be at least 30,000 pounds. What I gave you is still too little, but I can only give you so much for now."
Fors knew that these rewards were not easy to decline: "Teacher, these are enough. Really, when hunting Lewis, we never thought about asking for any reward.
"Hobert's main purpose was also to target the Beyonder characteristics on him."
Dorian smiled: "That's a good young man."
If Hobert wasn't Fors's husband, and Dorian knew that the two were very loving, he would have suspected that Hobert had other plans.
Dorian even thought just now that Fors meeting Hobert was her opportunity, and at the same time, wasn't this an opportunity for the Abraham family?
He advanced to demigod at a young age. He must be a member of an Beyonder family, or, as reported in the newspaper, he has the support of the Loen royal family.
This is a demigod who has enough goodwill towards the Abraham family, and in the future, he may get more help from him.
The key is that Dorian still thought that Fors and Hobert didn't know that he was a descendant of the Abraham family, so he could safely ask Fors for help in some matters.
Then, Dorian asked Fors about the digestion of the "Astrologer" potion.
Fors smiled slightly, "I'm now in the habit of divining before I do anything."
Then she said seriously, "Not long ago, I discovered a fact: 'Divination' is not omnipotent. I mean, for various reasons, you can't be too superstitious about the results of 'Divination'."
Dorian nodded with satisfaction: "This isn't the first time I've said it, you have a high talent!"
...
Backlund, MI9.
Hobert found Byron in the lounge and chatted with him in the corner about Xio's recent situation.
Finally, Hobert asked in a low voice: "Do you know the real cause of Xio's father's death?"
Byron smiled helplessly: "My position at the time was too low, and I didn't know the specifics."
Hobert nodded, pretended to think for a moment, and then said: "Okay, there's nothing else."
He went over to pour himself a cup of coffee, and while drinking it, he said to several intelligence personnel who suddenly became restrained: "Sorry, I interrupted your chat, please continue."
He smiled and raised the coffee in his hand: "I'll leave after I finish this cup of coffee."
Byron smiled and said: "We were just chatting, you didn't interrupt us."
"That's good." Hobert smiled: "I heard you say just now that you got some news about the Aurora Order? Are you finally going to crack down on this crazy secret organization?"
This was his main purpose in coming to the lounge; he knew that someone would complain about this matter today.
As he expected, one intelligence officer complained: "We are investigating the person who killed an important member of the Aurora Order."
Another intelligence officer joked: "I really can't figure out why we're investigating the murderer. Are we going to give him a good citizen award after we find him?"
Generally, investigations into cases where members of such secret organizations are killed are just a formality. If evidence is found, it is recorded; if not, the case is closed as a vendetta or a dispute over spoils.
After all, no one cares how these villains die.
However, this case is being pushed very urgently from above, and the investigation is quite thorough.
Others also began to joke about this matter: "It's as if we're going to avenge the Aurora Order."
Hobert took a sip of his coffee and thought: It's very likely that you will become accomplices.
After listening for a while, Hobert roughly knew that MI9's investigation direction had indeed been misled by him.
According to the eyewitnesses they found, it is currently believed that it should be an Beyonder of the "Apprentice" pathway who committed the crime, after all, the opponent used "Blink".
As for the signs of explosions that appeared on the streets outside, some people believe that it is likely to be a recorded ability.
This is why Hobert used the "Blink" ability yesterday, instead of the "Distortion" ability.
If the Aurora Order gets such news, they are likely to suspect that this is the Abraham family's revenge, or purely to hunt down that "Traveler".
Even if they guess that "Blink" may come from a mystical item, it is difficult to guess Hobert's specific pathway, because according to the traces at the scene, the murderer may also be an Beyonder of the "Hunter" pathway.
The ability of the "Lawyer" pathway, as long as you are careful to avoid it, will generally not leave too obvious traces.
As Hobert said, he left after finishing his coffee.
In the afternoon, Qonas came to see Hobert, and the two talked about the "Earl's Light" light bulb. Now Qonas is also a shareholder of "Earl's Light", which has invisibly brought the two closer together.
Hobert smiled and said: "The advancement of light bulbs is not over yet, because the big light bulb in Order Square is still on!"
Qonas praised: "I have to say, you are a business genius."
Then he said: "There is a card game at the club tonight, would you like to participate?"
"Some other day." Hobert smiled helplessly: "Todd is coming back from Pritz Harbor this afternoon, and I want to have a simple meal with him."
"It seems that the hot sale of 'Earl's Light' is not all good." Qonas joked: "You don't even have time for entertainment."
After Qonas left, the smile on Hobert's face immediately disappeared.
He certainly guessed that Qonas's visit was an observation and test of himself. Although Hobert found a good reason to go to the lounge in the morning, this was his first time going, and it was after the Aurora Order case happened.
It's not that Qonas suspects Hobert, after all, on the surface Hobert has no motive for the crime, but he just wants to completely rule out Hobert's suspicion.
Hobert's performance was also very natural. If he had accepted Qonas's invitation just now, it would have made him seem guilty, after all, he rarely participates in club entertainment activities.
In that case, Qonas would definitely test him further.
Because of Hobert's performance, Qonas has ruled out Hobert's suspicion.
After getting off work, Hobert met Fors in the Earl's mansion study.
"Teacher Dorian's reward is too generous." Fors said: "He actually gave me a Grade 2 Sealed Artifact and two properties."
Hobert listened to the specific information about those rewards: "That crystal ball might be useful to me, let me use it for a while first. As for those two properties, I suggest you can use them to collect rent."
Fors was slightly stunned: "I was planning to give them all to you, after all, I didn't play any role in this matter."
"You are Hobert's wife and Dorian's student, that's your greatest role." Hobert patted Fors's plump butt: "Okay, let's go have dinner, I have an action tonight."
...
As night fell, Hobert used "Travel" to come to the bank of the Tussock River again, the place where he and Klein had met before.
Klein was already waiting here. After the two met, there were no pleasantries. He took out four talismans: "Through praying to Mr. Fool, I have created three types of talismans, namely Fate Siphon Talisman, Deception Talisman, and Deprivation Talisman.
"The Fate Stealing Talisman can steal the target's fate for three seconds, and can exchange one's own fate with the other party.
"The Deception Talisman can deceive the target, causing the other party to make wrong judgments, or not notice some key actions.
"The Deprivation Talisman can steal three Beyonder abilities from the target, stealing in the order of the most recently used ability, going back in sequence.
"Here is one Fate Siphon Talisman, one Deception Talisman, and two Deprivation Talismans. The activation incantation is 'Steal' in Ancient Hermes."
Hobert put away these four talismans that looked like black crystal cards: "They are all quite strong."
With these talismans, dealing with the "Frenzied Mage" in Foggy Town is not a big problem.
But the specific information about Foggy Town cannot be told to Klein for the time being.
Klein is also very cautious about this kind of action, and only at this time did he reveal all his plans.
Then Hobert turned into a small pool of flesh and blood and hid in Klein's pocket.
Klein used "Travel" to come to the dark place on Phelps Street where St. Samuel Cathedral is located. After waiting for a while, a group of believers who participated in the evening mass came out of the church.
Soon, several servants walked out of the church with various cleaning tools and began to clean the street in front of the church, mainly cleaning the manure from the carriage parking spots.
Today, Backlund rarely has no mist. The scarlet moonlight shines on the earth. The red moon seems to be watching everything that happens on the street.
Klein found a servant walking at the back, used the power of "Wraith" to possess the other party, then controlled him to slowly walk into the corner, let him drink a sleeping potion, and settled him down.
Then Klein transformed into the appearance of this servant, carefully swept horse manure for more than ten minutes, followed the servant back to the church, and successfully moved into the servants' dormitory.
Before long, the servants fell into a deep sleep, and Hobert came out of Klein's pocket to rest.
Although the negative effects of "1-109" are relatively easy for Hobert to avoid, if there is a chance, he still needs to rest to keep himself in the best condition.
One person lay on the bed, and one person stood on the ground, both waiting very quietly.
Until dawn came, Hobert once again burrowed into Klein's pocket. Klein first used the "Paper Angel" blessed by the "Gray Fog" ability to interfere, in order to avoid Archbishop Anthony's spirituality, and relying on the "Queen Mystic" help, the erosion aura of "Wraith" interfered with the sealing core at the bottom of the church.
In this way, they came silently to the place where the guardians closer to the core area lived, and once again used the potion to make a sparse-haired guardian fall asleep.
Klein transformed into the appearance of the guardian, ate all the white bread on the table in front of the window, drank a glass of water, and vividly imitated the way he walked, seemingly struggling to get to the underground area.
As soon as he arrived in the corridor of the underground area, Klein almost didn't control his emotions, because he saw Leonard, with black hair and green eyes, outstanding appearance, but a somewhat casual temperament, walking towards him.
Klein knew that a Marauder pathway angel was parasitized in the body of the poet student, but at this time he could only bite the bullet and move forward, hoping that the poet student was afraid of exposing his own secrets and pretended not to know.
While moving forward, Klein quickly thought that it was the Marauder pathway angel who could detect his specialness, not Leonard.
He quietly breathed a sigh of relief: Then the possibility of the other party exposing me is very small, after all, he also has a lot of problems, and he is not an angel who believes in the Evernight Goddess, once he exposes me, he will also be at risk of exposure, there is no need to take this risk at all.
Soon the two approached, nodded slightly to each other, and pointed their right index and middle fingers clockwise four times on their chests, as if drawing a round moon.
Then one inward and one outward, brushed past each other.
Klein silently breathed a sigh of relief, the Marauder Angel really pretended not to see anything, and didn't even remind Leonard.
Cautiously walking in the underground passage for more than a minute, Klein finally came to a cold door.
He was very clear about the handover process between the Nighthawks and the guardians, knocked on the door of the guard room outside the door, and opened the Chanis Gate under the witness of the rotating Nighthawks.
Inside the door, the deep darkness surged immediately. Klein felt as if there were invisible tentacles scraping his skin in the darkness, penetrating into his body, and linking with the eroded "Wraith".
Klein tried to make his expression indifferent and entered the door, closing the Chanis Gate.
He took the horse lamp from the side and lit it, patiently waiting in front of the door for a while, so as not to have a Nighthawk come early to collect or return something.
According to his experience, as long as the internal guardian is not disturbed by the Nighthawks for five minutes after entering the Chanis Gate, then the Chanis Gate will be opened again when an Beyonder case occurs that day and a Sealed Artifact needs to be used.
He spent five minutes in incomparable torment, Klein finally started moving forward again, walking towards the stairs leading to the second floor.
After passing the rooms where various Beyonder materials, potion formulas, and secret knowledge were stored, and where heretics or wild Beyonders were imprisoned, Klein stepped steadily into the underground.
This is an area separated by steel, brick, or silver. The doors of these areas are closed, only the door of the armor soaked in the steel bathtub is open.
Passing this Sealed Artifact, Klein's spirituality seemed to be guided. He turned a corner and saw a stone room with a bookshelf made of bones, with only an ancient notebook with a hard cover placed on it.
It is the Antigonus family notebook!
According to the agreement with Hobert, he will get this notebook first, and then look for the clues of the saint who disappeared in the Backlund smog incident together.
Things went smoothly, but Klein still didn't have the slightest carelessness and recklessness, carefully entered the room, and was about to reach out to take the notebook.
Pa~
Just then, the sound of the door opening suddenly sounded outside, as if someone had walked over.
Klein's pupils dilated. While lunging towards the bone bookshelf, letting the marionette grab the Antigonus family notebook, he reached into his pocket and pulled Hobert out, hoping that this demigod could temporarily withstand the crisis behind.
Hobert originally thought he could take a "ride" directly into Foggy Town, but he didn't expect Klein to prepare to resist.
Leaving the cover of the "Wraith" marionette, he had to "distort" the illusory tentacles in the darkness, so that the sealing core would not notice him for the time being.
At this moment, he saw a figure wearing a hood and a classical robe standing outside the door. She had a beautiful face but no expression, and her eyes were deep but lacked spirituality.
Hobert twitched the corner of his mouth: People are already standing there, what's the point of resisting! Get ready to pose and go straight to Foggy Town!
So Hobert reached back with his hand, preparing to pull Klein away together.
But he found that he had grabbed nothing. Looking at the corner of his eye, Klein had disappeared, and the Antigonus family diary was still placed on the bone bookshelf.
Hobert looked at his hands and feet again, and then he realized: Why don't you let me disappear yet? If Klein goes to Foggy Town and I don't go, that would be embarrassing.
But then, Hobert felt that he would definitely be sent to Foggy Town, after all, the Black Hound spirit beast was still inside, and the Solomon family's "Frenzied Mage" should also be inside.
Without Hobert's help, it is almost impossible for Klein to walk out of the town by himself.
So, Hobert looked towards the figure outside the door, his eyes seemingly saying: Come on, what are you waiting for?
A smile suddenly flashed across the other person's handsome face, and then he pointed at Hobert with his index finger. Hobert's spirituality sensed something, as if something had changed within him, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.
Fortunately, in the next second, Hobert was erased like a pencil drawing rubbed out by an eraser, quickly vanishing.
Hobert's vision went black at first, as if he had entered a deep, dreamless sleep. He didn't know how long passed before the darkness before his eyes suddenly shifted, and a cold wind blew over him.
He struggled to open his eyes and saw that he was in a cornfield, with a mist above him. The scarlet moon was hidden within it, appearing and disappearing intermittently.
Hobert quickly regained his thoughts: A cornfield? I don't remember any cornfield?
Immediately afterward, Hobert realized that these corn stalks were not normal. They were all turning their leaves, as if turning around to "look" at Hobert.
join the Church of MissRaven and become a Sequence 9: Reader p atreon.com/KeyofStars for more chapters